The Provisional Electoral Council has unveiled Tuesday a new electoral calendar. Under this timetable, the legislative elections should be held in July 2015 and the presidential in October. With the second round of presidential elections, municipal and local elections scheduled for January 2016, the new Electoral Council affirms its determination to renew the entire political staff by February 2016.

No more suspense. There will be two elections in 2015. The elections are set in July and the presidential to the last Sunday of October. This is the proposal that the Provisional Electoral Council is preparing to submit to political parties by the end of this week. "The CEP has offered and will offer political parties an electoral timetable with a process that will begin in March 2015 and ended with the October presidential 2015," said Chairman of the Provisional Electoral Council, Pierre-Louis Opont.

For their first press conference since their inauguration, electoral advisers have defined their mission and their priorities: "We have a constitutional and legal obligation. We ensure that there is good elections, transparent and credible taking place during the year 2015, to renew the Senate of the Republic, the Chamber of Deputies, local authorities, and have a different president on February 7 2016 ", said the President of the CEP.

According to the first timetable provided by the CEP, the second round of legislative elections will be held simultaneously with the first round of presidential elections on October 25. The second round of presidential elections will be held in conjunction with municipal and local elections in January 2016. "At the end of this week, we will arrange to send us formally to all political parties, for begin the round of consultations to enable us to validate an election calendar on the horizon from March 2016 to start the electoral process, "stated Pierre Louis Opont. The final schedule will be communicated to the public after discussions between the CEP and the political parties.

Apart from the electoral calendar, the Council directed by Pierre-Louis Opont already has a draft electoral decree. According to the adviser Ricardo Augustine, "This text takes into account the irritants raised by all players since the agreement of El Rancho." The electoral decree will be a composition of the Electoral Act 2013, the proposals made by Parliament on this law and revisions by the CEP. According to a release dated February 9, political parties and civil society have until February 11 to submit their proposals on electoral decree has already been communicated to them.

The Council says it wants to make the upcoming election an inclusive process. Keep stakeholders and the public informed of the evolution of the process is a priority for the Council. "Making the Provisional Electoral Council an inclusive and participatory institution, that is what we task ourselves within the Council, said the vice president of the CEP, Pierre Manigat Junior. Elections are a process of communication, so it will be based on communication. »

Vice President promises to make all stages of the process of consultation and the object of mass publication. "Our communication is based on the increase in the participation rate", said Pierre Manigat Junior, which projects a participation rate of between 40 and 50 percent of potential voters.

Regarding a potential manipulation of the election results by foreign actors, Pierre Louis Opont wants realistic first: "I was there and today I'm here. On behalf of my colleagues, I mean that the reality has not changed. "The President of the Electoral Council nevertheless promises that this Council will itself change this reality in how to act and how to behave. In his way of seeing and its application of the law. "We will respect the law and we will not let anyone trample on us," he said.

Contested cases members of the BED and BEC were also the order of the day. The new Electoral Council has addressed this situation by forming a committee to analyze the files. After the committee's work is noted that there is a county where the president of the electoral office department is disputed. There are also 14 municipal electoral offices where there are proven disputes that the Council proposes to deal with. Electoral advisers have to travel to the various departments involved in these irregularities to investigate more closely before making any final decisions.